


Baby Steps

by amoxli



Category: Tokyo Ghoul
Genre: F/M, M/M, Warm and Fuzzy Feelings, literally nothing but fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-25
Updated: 2015-09-25
Packaged: 2018-04-23 07:02:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,707
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4867583
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/amoxli/pseuds/amoxli
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>He's kind of socially awkward. And maybe there are some things he'll just never be comfortable with. But you both like coffee, and Marvel movies, and video games. That's a start.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Baby Steps

“Those are some really cool stitches you have there.”

He blinks owlishly back at you. It’s been your policy to always compliment someone if you notice something you like about them, and you’ve gotten some mixed reactions, but this time you just hope you haven’t offended him. He’s got beautiful white hair and the biggest, brightest eyes – the color of blood – but you were careful not to mention that part.

“Thanks.” He breathes, as if he just remembered the correct response and is using it for the first time.

You reach out your hand and introduce yourself. When your sleeve pulls back and he notices the tattoos snaking up your arm, he seems to brighten considerably.

“Thank you – I made them myself!” he beams and shakes your hand. “Would you like some?”

…

His name is Juuzou.

You never did take him up on that offer for stitches, but you bump into him again at that same coffee shop, and after a few minutes of chatting while waiting for your drinks, decide to sit out your coffee break together. After all, it’s not every day you get to meet someone so interesting. And, well, you have to admit he’s pretty _cute._

As he takes a sip of his latte (which looks to be more syrup than coffee, to be honest) you ask him what he does for a living.

“I'm an investigator in the CCG,” he sing-songs, offering that same bright smile, “What do you do?”

…

He doesn’t seem to care that you’re just a regular office temp and grad student, and continues to show up for coffee breaks around the same time in the afternoon a couple times per week. Your offices must both be near the coffee shop, then, which is fine by you. He asks you all types of questions that you’re happy to answer, and you even get to ask your own sometimes.

You tread lightly, however – you can tell there are some things he avoids talking about, and you don’t want to scare him off. Besides, his work provides for plenty of stories, which he seems to have no problem sharing.

One day, when you’ve decided that maybe it’s a good time, you take the plunge.

“I think those superhero movies look really cool, with all the explosions and weapons and villains. And can you imagine the fight scenes?!” he gushes on his topic of the moment, “I don’t usually go see them because my partner isn’t really into that sort of thing, and I’m usually working anyway, but they look awesome-“

“You know,” you interrupt, looking up at him and broaching the topic slowly, “I really like superhero movies, too. If you want, maybe I can go with you to watch one sometime?”

He gives you the owlish look again (briefly - he's getting used to you).

You’re (very) pleasantly surprised when he says okay.

…

It’s not until he starts hanging out at your place that things go any further.

You’re on your couch playing Smash Bros, and after he K.O.’s you for the fifth time in a row, he points out that it’s snowing outside.

You both rush to the window. Sure enough, a soft powder is falling slowly and dusting the ground. It probably won’t be enough to stick, but it does bring out that beautiful smile of his.

It’s cliché, you realize, in front of the window like this. But this is an opportunity if you ever saw one, and you’re not one to take things for granted.

You lean in and kiss him, soft and almost chaste, brushing only the corner of his lips. When you pull back, his cheeks are almost as red as his stitches. His eyes are wide and a little panicked.

“I’m sorry, I should have asked,” the words tumble out in a rush, regret quickly pooling low in your stomach, “We can go back to playing video games if you’d like, or I can take you home-“

He brings up a hand to touch his lips, looking at the ground with eyes as wide as ever. For a moment you forget how to breathe. Then, he turns to you, and beams.

“Can we… can we do that again?”

…

You can tell that he's a bit awkward – not from shyness, but moreso from just not being familiar with many social conventions. Whatever that may say about his upbringing, it's apparent in the types of blunt questions he asks, the type of answers he gives, and his callous behavioral responses to certain situations. But it's never truly bothered you and he's never hurt you, and you aren't quite sure anything needs to be said as long as you're both comfortable, so you never bring it up.

Which is how you find yourself in this situation.

You were kissing on your couch – he’d gotten quite fond of kissing, as long as you didn’t sneak up on him – so you decided to test things out a little bit. As he tangled his fingers in your hair and you rubbed a thumb across his cheek, your other hand roamed downwards and you hooked a finger in the waistband of his pants. Having learned your lesson, you pulled away briefly.

“Is this okay?” you breathed, searching his eyes.

But just as soon as you’d made contact with the soft, heated skin of his hips, he’d frozen.

Noticing how quickly distraught he was becoming, you pull away instantly, “It’s okay, we don’t have to do anything like that!” You hold your hands up in front of you and immediately he brings his hands up to his ears.

You watch as he brings his knees up to his chin and buries his face in them. Practically hyperventilating, he's really tensing up.

“Honey, hey, what’s wrong?” Concern twists in your gut. “Hey, we don’t have to do anything like that if you don’t want to. It’s okay.”

You reach out slowly and tentatively place a hand on his arm, your touch light. Briefly, he tenses even further, but then relaxes into your touch and starts to calm down after you breathe with him for a few minutes, rubbing soothing circles into his back. 

Finally, his breaths even out and he appears to be calmed, if a bit shaken.

“...I don’t know... if I want to do that,” he says in a small voice, arms still wrapped around himself.

“It’s okay,” you continue rubbing his shoulder, not having moved your hand, “We really don’t have to. I don’t mind.”

He still seems unsure, so you tilt your head downwards to catch his gaze, “Hey. I promise we don’t have to do anything you’re not comfortable with. Only what you’re ready for.” He looks up at you with watery eyes. “And if there are some things you don’t ever want to do, that’s okay too. I really don't mind. I really like you, Juuzou, and I want you to be happy. Okay?”

He considers you a moment before slowly taking your hand from his shoulder and lacing his fingers through it.

“Okay.”

…

Juuzou can be quite jumpy and even prickly when it comes to physical touch, so you're very careful not to surprise him. You truly cherish any type of affection he initiates, letting him come to you more often than reaching out yourself. You can’t help but savor whenever he tugs on your hand or wraps his arms around your middle – you grew up in a family that was very big on hugs and ruffling hair and play wrestling, and after you lost them you’d sorely missed it.

That’s why, when he falls asleep on your shoulder during _Captain America: Winter Soldier_ , your blood begins to rush through your veins and you have to work to stay calm and control your breathing, keeping it slow and steady, careful not to wake him. You resist the dire urge to pinch his cheek.

He must have really been tired to fall asleep during a Marvel movie. Investigation and field work take a large amount of energy, even though he obviously loves his line of work and seems to be quite good at it for his young age. Gently, you card your fingers through the soft hair at his temple. He looks even younger when he's sleeping.

Stirring, he reaches up to grab onto your shirt. As he snuggles closer, you shift strategically so he can nuzzle into your neck. His every exhale puffs out onto the sensitive skin of your throat like a brush of feathers.

With your arms wrapped around him, you lean your cheek on his head and smile a little giddily. You’re not really sure what’s going on in the movie anymore, but damned if you’ll be bothered to go grab the remote.

…

“Did I fall asleep?” he rubs the heels of his hands into his eyes and croaks out in a high voice, rough with tiredness.

“Yeah,” you smile fondly and brush a strand of hair off his forehead. Your body is cold where he had been leaning on you, keeping you warm. “You must really be worn out, sweetheart. Do you – do you wanna maybe stay here tonight?”

He seems just a little surprised but more sleepy than anything else. He nods.

When you’re settled in bed, both of you wearing oversized t-shirts you had in a drawer somewhere and wrapped in the warm blankets, he takes your hand in his and closes his eyes.

Your heart swells, and it almost aches. “Juuzou,” you whisper.

“Yeah?”

“I love you.”

The ache in your heart intensifies. (When you first confessed that you loved him, he'd seemed nonplussed. You’d tried to explain what you meant, and had gotten as far as explaining how happy he made you and how much you cared about him. He still wasn’t sure he understood what love was, but he did tell you if you died first he’d be sad. You hadn’t brought it up since.)

His breathing starts to even out and you think he might have fallen asleep, but before you close your eyes he whispers back,

“I love you, too.”

You release the breath you were holding and squeeze his hand, heart still aching as you fall asleep with a dopey, giddy smile.

**Author's Note:**

> I don't often write fanfiction, much prefering to stick to fanart, but I'm halfway through season 2 of Tokyo Ghoul and I just have a lot of FEELINGS. Does anybody else just want to squeeze Juuzou and tell him everything will be okay? Anyway, hope you enjoyed!


End file.
